I was a fan of the TV show “Mythbusters” that aired from 2003 to 2018. A jack-of-all-trades and his silly sidekick used science and engineering to “explode” popular myths, including the “five-second rule.” Food should be thrown away no matter how soon it is dropped. Also, you need a shotgun and not a six-shooter to knock the hat off a cowboy, and a scuba tank will not explode if hit by a bullet (sorry “Jaws”).
“Mythbusters” never seemed to address the big energy illusions about fossil fuels and renewable energy sources. To be honest, tackling all those myths would take an encyclopedia-sized set of books. So, I’ll address just a few of the ones that bug me here.
No. 1: “America must be energy independent.” In other words, should the U.S. produce enough energy to satisfy its own needs? Unfortunately, the phrase ignores the fact that the U.S. has for years imported oil and exported crude oil, refined fuels, coal and liquid natural gas. In a global market where fossil fuels flow to the highest bidder, “America must be energy independent” is nothing more than a catchphrase right-wing politicians in particular use to get votes.
As Matt Randolph (aka Mr. Global), my favorite energy guru, likes to say, “That isn’t a thing.” Randolph is a globally recognized expert in the oil and gas industry with over 33 years of experience spanning exploration, production, and strategic operations. Randolph is popular on social media where he comments on a wide range of energy and related political issues.
No. 2: “Drill Baby Drill!“ With international fossil fuel markets, “Drill Baby, Drill!” will increase our gasoline and home heating bills, Randolph says. Fossil fuels are traded by huge multinational energy companies (Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil, Chevron) that buy less expensive fossil fuels from other nations to meet our needs, he explains.
No. 3: “The U.S. Is The Largest Energy Producer.” Neither the United States or the state of Pennsylvania own a drop of oil or a whisp of national gas. Fossil fuels exist under federal and private land, but big oil and gas companies own the leases and the means to extract, process and sell the fuels. If the U.S. did own all the fossil fuels extracted here, we would be considered a (dare I say?) A COMMUNIST NATION!
No. 4: “Solar Energy Produced Here Goes to Philadelphia and New Jersey.” This one bugs me the most. The solar farms in Adams County would have to be directly wired to homes and factories in Philly and N.J. for this to happen. As electricity is generated, it flows onto an electric grid or infrastructure that carries it over transmission lines to distribution substations before it reaches your home or business…unless you have solar panels on your roof. And even then, the excess produced has to flow back onto “the grid.” A former boss described the grid as a giant “swimming pool” where generated electricity goes in one end and is pulled out the other end for use by homes and businesses.
The subject of renewable energy includes tons of disinformation, myths and propaganda because the issue has become highly politicized by the political right wing. One of Donald Trump’s first executive orders was to reverse everything Joe Biden tried to do to advance renewable energy production and slow climate change. Was it because Trump just hates renewable energy or because some of his biggest donations were from the oil and gas industry? You decide.
Our future energy will come increasingly from renewables, particularly solar, a direct competitor to natural gas, Randolph predicts, adding solar will eat the oil and gas industry’s lunch sooner rather than later. A simple Google search finds: “In 2024, the United States had 239 gigawatts (GW) of installed solar capacity…which accounted for 17 percent of the total U.S. electricity generation. Solar power is the fastest-growing source of electricity in the U.S…” (Wikipedia and climatecentral.org).
“When we build a bunch of solar in the United States, I don’t have to think about how much of that we are going to export…and sell to other countries where we don’t get the benefit of it,” says Randolph.
You can explode a few energy myths yourself because there’s plenty to go around. Get yourself an expert because this subject defies simple solutions and get ready to work on the research. Finally, be prepared to change what you think and how you approach energy issues.